


words and meanings

by stardating



Series: when going through a storm [5]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: ADHD, Adopted Peter Parker, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Education, Learning Disabilities, M/M, School, Slow Burn, Teacher Steve Rogers, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, single parent tony stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-25 16:40:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30092034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardating/pseuds/stardating
Summary: Tony hates to admit that he has a problem. He hates to admit that he cannot solve a problem. He was Tony Stark. What the hell kind of problem he couldn’t solve?
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: when going through a storm [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1838563
Comments: 13
Kudos: 71





	words and meanings

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, wow, it has been a long time! I hope you all are doing well!
> 
> Things on my end have been up and down, depending upon the day or the week at times, but being in the middle of student teaching and working on obtaining a teaching certification in the middle of a pandemic will do that to you.
> 
> This one hit me while I was in the shower, once again, and as always. I was wondering how to bring this back to Stony related content, as much as I love the exploration of the other concepts in this story. Everything is kind of relevant to my interests, but as I am in the middle of student teaching, educational topics are kind of at the front of my mind, you know?
> 
> PS: There is a mentioning of the 9-11 Terrorist Attacks further into the story in the context of someone off-screen giving a history report about it. Not much detail is put into the event at all, but I thought it would be better to warn everyone than not. What happens during the history reports is what happened during a college history class I once took.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

Tony had a problem.

He had a problem and he couldn’t solve it and that was _wrong_ because he was Tony Stark and there was never a problem that he could not solve and—

Oh, wow, the grammar there was _awful_.

Taking in a deep breath, he stared at himself hard in the mirror.

“You got this,” he told himself. “You can do this.”

Peter’s class was having one of those project presentation nights. Specifically his history class. With Steve Rogers. The class with the teacher who was too hot to be real. Who was also too amazing to be real, because dear god, people like Steve didn’t exist anymore.

Except that Steve Rogers seemed to be an exception.

Steve was the one who noticed why Peter was struggling and reached out to help. He was the one who defended him and worked with him these last few months, pulling out all the stops. Because of his efforts, Peter was flourishing. He was coming back home, excited to tell Tony about his day and the things they learned, what they were working on, and was no longer panicking when he couldn’t understand something or focus long enough on a question. He was still hyperactive at times, and could be forgetful, but Tony was giving him some leeway with that, as he wasn’t even a teenager yet. He had plenty of time to learn, adapt, and develop healthy habits.

Steve kept Tony in the loop, gave him regular updates about how Peter was doing in is class, and helped Tony figure out all of the information Tony was getting from all of the other teachers. He answered questions about IEP plans and if Peter would need a 504 plan. JARVIS filtered all of Steve’s messages at the highest priority and any phone calls never went to voice mail.

Peter was doing wonderfully. There were some hiccups, some added stress because of class changes and medication reactions, but they all worked through them.

Now, Tony knew that it was Steve’s job to be there for his students. He knew that meant he had to help and juggle more than a hundred unique kids. He knew that keeping an eye out for learning disabilities and offering help was part of what a teacher did. They were trained for it, apparently, though they were not quite paraprofessionals or psychologists. All of Peter’s teachers were helping, but damn, Steve Rogers was the one who took the cake.

“So, you have a bit of a crush,” Tony continued. “No problem. You just need to remain professional. Dating your student’s teacher is a breach of ethics.”

“So, you do have a crush,” Pepper suddenly said.

Tony jumped with a surprised cry. “Pepper!”

She smiled and placed his phone on the bathroom counter. “You’re running a bit late. JARVIS called me, saying you maybe needed to talk to a person.”

“Great,” he muttered. “JARVIS, I did not need that.”

“I respectfully disagree,” JARVIS said. “Miss Potts is an excellent source of sound advice and I feel that my knowledge of such matters is insufficient to help you myself.”

Tony could not help but roll his eyes. “Thanks. Wonderful.”

“And given that Peter picked up on it, yes, you need to talk to someone about this. Though I’m glad you already know that it’s not ethical to date your son’s teacher.” Pepper patted his arm comfortingly. “But I know your priority is Peter.”

“Yeah,” Tony sighed. “He is. That’s why I was giving myself a pep-talk. To keep my feelings in check and keep it in my pants.”

“That is very mature of you,” Pepper said.

Tony resisted rolling his eyes again. “Come on, Pepper.”

“I mean it,” she insisted. “Do you know how many people would just go for it, without regarding any of the consequences? I don’t know how many HR incidents I have had to work through because someone didn’t take a moment to think. But, for all the people to develop a crush on, you could do a lot worse than a very dedicated, understanding teacher.”

“Yeah, well,” he mumbled, feeling shy all of the sudden.

He wasn’t sure if his feelings were stemming from relief and gratitude towards Steve’s efforts to help Peter, or if because he genuinely liked the man. They had yet to interact outside of a school setting, had yet to have a conversation that wasn’t about Peter. Teaching might be his job (or maybe even his calling), but Steve was a complete person outside of being a teacher. He at least deserved someone appreciating him for all of his facets.

It was just a crush. Either it would go away, he would be rejected, or there might be a chance that something more could come of it.

Tony wasn’t sure which of the options he preferred.

“Plus, his arms.”

Tony blinked. “What?”

She shrugged. “I saw him once when I picked Peter up.”

“Then you haven’t seen his _ass_.”

* * *

Steve had a problem.

A very, very big problem.

It was not wrong, people had told him throughout his life, to have feelings. Feelings were natural, normal. A part of the human condition and experience. However, Steve felt that all of the people who encouraged him to feel or act upon his feelings were not considering a major aspect of emotions: the circumstances surrounding them.

Feeling the need to stand up for someone else? Perfectly acceptable.

Punching a bully to defend that other person? Not so much.

Protesting against injustices? Controversial, but still a noble thing to do.

Refusing to back down from a bigot and getting hauled away by police? Concerning.

While Principal Fury only stared at him blankly and asked if his ‘criminal record’ was going to be a continued habit, Steve was careful not to get arrested anymore and to stay off of certain social media websites and forums, just in case. He got the itch to tell someone exactly why their ‘opinions’ were harmful for others and they were in the wrong with proper citations of various laws and easily verified historical incidents and court rulings a little too often. Because why add more hot-headed ranting when you could shut someone down with evidence and facts?

Bucky agreed that Steve had a tendency to do just that, but he never encouraged Steve to stop.

“It’s too hilarious,” he explained.

However, he agreed that this current emotion and its circumstances were a problem.

“So _what_ are you gonna do?” Bucky asked.

“Not get fired.”

“And _how_ are you going to do that?”

“By being a professional around all parents.”

Bucky gave a firm nod. “And not getting down on one knee to propose to one of them.”

Steve balked. “I’d ask him out first! But I’m not gonna do that either!”

Somewhere, somehow, Steve pissed someone off. Pissed someone off royally. And the best form of revenge that they could think up was to put someone completely unattainable within his reach. Why couldn’t he have been a mechanic? Wait, no, if Tony was a customer, it would still be a breach of ethics. God, he was screwed no matter what he did. Why couldn’t he have been—no, barista would do the same thing. Purchaser of a Stark Phone that happened to somehow run into Tony? Nah, statistical impossibility given the population of Manhattan.

Besides, he lived closer to Brooklyn.

God, Tony Stark was not like most other parents he had met due to teaching.

There were helicopter parents that crippled their children from kindergarten; parents that required documentation for every little thing lest they use it as ammo; parents that would never believe that their students were anything but perfect angels who would never cyberbully another student; parents that refused to cooperate with any grading policy. There were parents that never came to after school activities or answered their emails. There were parents who were encouraging enough, but seemed to speed away the moment their kid was in front of the school.

Then, there parents like Tony Stark: the ones who admitted that their kids had faults and might need help. The ones who were reasonable when it came to communication and reached out when they had concerns. The ones who cared about their children and were willing to do whatever it took to help them succeed, no matter how inconvenient it was or what it took. The ones who took utter delight in anything and everything their child did.

Steve knew there were thousands, millions of parents like Tony Stark. He just wished there were more of them.

The sheer amount of love and support Tony had for Peter was just … It always took Steve’s breath away. It reminded him of his own mother, all that she did for him despite their limited means. She gave him everything that she could and then some.

Bucky was still giving him that look. The look that said he knew that Steve was off daydreaming about Tony. Again. God, he was screwed. Royally screwed. And not in the way he’d like.

“So, what are you going to do?”

“Focus on the students. Because that’s why we’re there.”

“Awesome. You can date Stark after Peter’s no longer your student.”

Steve flushed. “Buck.”

“Stevie.”

Steve rolled his eyes and grabbed his jacket. “I’ll be back later this evening. Not sure when, you know how these things sometimes go.”

“Yeah, yeah, have fun corralling the little monsters.”

Steve smiled to himself as he made sure he had everything and put on his helmet. Some of his students were little monsters, sure, but he would give them the benefit of the doubt for a few more years. They still had time to grow. Peter, on the other hand, Steve knew that he was going to go off and do wonderful, amazing things. There were few kids who had that combination of being intelligent, compassionate, and always wanting to do their best. Tony had really done a wonderful job, giving Peter a home he could thrive in—

And there he was. Thinking about Tony again.

Damnit.

* * *

“… and that concludes why I believe that the Apollo Moon Landing was the most significant event in modern American history: despite it’s less than altruistic origins, it has led to the creation of many of the modern advances we enjoy today, helped kick off a generation of engineers and scientists, and has created an avenue for the whole world to collaborate and learn together.”

Peter looked absolutely flushed and out of breath by the time he was done with his short speech.

Many of the parents and students clapped afterwards, with Tony clapping the hardest. His heart was bursting with absolute pride, chest swelling and everything. Peter had worked so hard on this project for the last week and his efforts absolutely showed. There was absolutely no sign of his nightly panicking and the shaking of his hands as he held his cue cards was minimal.

He totally nailed it.

“Thank you, Peter, that was wonderful,” Steve said.

Peter’s cheeks reddened some more and he fumbled with his presentation board awkwardly. Steve helped him not trip over his feet and then proceeded to announce the next classmate.

“The hardest part is over,” Tony said softly as Peter took a seat in a desk next to him. It was a little awkward, seeing so many adults sitting in desks meant for kids, but a smaller ‘stage’ made more of the kids comfortable and was easier to manage too. “You did great.”

“Thanks,” Peter whispered, hugging the oversized presentation board to his chest. “I can’t believe that was only five minutes. It felt like eternity.”

“Right? That’s why I hate board meetings.”

“Shh!” one parent hissed as yet another student started to do a presentation about the 9-11 Terrorist Attacks. They had to be given props, though, for continuing on despite being the seventh student to do the topic. Students weren’t the only ones who had to hold back their groans. At least some more thought seemed to be put into it, with the long-term aftermath of the horrific event being the focus instead of the immediate response.

Tony and Peter sheepishly grinned. Then they proceeded to zone out, clapping only to be polite until everyone was _finally_ done and they could get out of their seats again. The day had been a long one and they were _done_.

“Ice cream?” Tony whispered.

“Yes,” Peter quietly cheered.

“Ice cream does sound good,” Steve suddenly said, making them both jump. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”

Tony laughed. “That’s what you get for zoning out during class.”

“Not that I would ever,” Peter quipped. “Not in your class at least.”

“Sure,” Steve said, his amused face doing things to Tony.

“Oh, hey, there’s MJ and Ned!” Peter suddenly said, dashing off. “Bye!”

Steve frowned. “I was going to congratulate him again for his speech. He must have practiced it a lot at home.”

Tony eyed Peter, who was looking over his shoulder every two seconds and was _not_ with Ned or MJ. As a matter of fact, neither of them were around. Huh.

“He did,” he said, having a feeling he knew why Peter suddenly ditched them. “The kiddo likes to keep me on my toes. But speaking of which, how has he been doing?”

Tony typed out notes on his phone to follow up on later as Steve talked, but the conversation had to be quick as he had other parents to attend to. Quite a few took the time to speak with him about general school matters, which was good to see. Sometimes the informality of a presentation, and the lemonade that was usually served after these events, made such meetings easier than the dreaded parent-teacher conferences. Tony hoped that the ones he would continue to have went as well as that first one did. Definitely life-changing.

“So,” Peter drawled.

“So,” Tony drawled back.

Peter pouted. “Dad.”

“Oh no, not this again,” Tony said. “Nope.”

“But—”

“Zip it.”

The pout became even more intense.

“Is that a lip wibble? Where did you learn that?”

“Internet.”

Tony rolled his eyes at such a response. “Come on, turn off those Bambie eyes too. There’s no need for them.”

“Oh, but there is. There really, really is.”

Tony huffed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He could not believe that they were discussing this _here_ of all places. Thank goodness they were on the same page about being as vague as possible, should anyone be listening. “Kiddo. It’s a bad idea.”

“Only because of technicalities.”

“Specific technicalities that were created for _reasons_. Where did this even come from anyways?”

Peter hesitated, shuffling his feet. “Maybe we should talk about this at home.”

“Yes. That is a good idea. Thank you.”

Hopefully, he would get to the bottom of this. It was sweet, in a weird way, that his son wanted him to have a love life, but with his history teacher of all people? Sure, he had a crush on Steve. He was very crush-worthy. But this hyper-focus wasn’t like when he was on that old school NASA binge or when he wanted nothing but strawberry flavored cereal for a month.

* * *

Steve watched Tony and Peter out of the corner of his eye. They seemed to be discussing something serious; their moods changed completely from the bubbly happiness a few moments ago to something with more eye rolls and obvious annoyance. He couldn’t hear, as he was focusing on other students and their parents, but he was still curious.

“Yes, that sounds like a good idea,” Steve said, when the parent he was talking to suggested some more tutoring for their daughter. “We have student and teacher aid tutoring available before and after school.”

Then, he saw that the conversation ended with Peter looking that mixture of embarrassed and ashamed. Not quite sheepish … but something else. Huh. He only ever saw Peter look like that when he put his foot in his mouth around classmates.

Tony met his eyes and waved as they headed out the door.

He waved back, hoping everything was alright. Hopefully his face didn’t betray how he wished that he was leaving with them.

* * *

“So, why are you invested in my love life?”

Peter quickly took a bite of his ice cream and suffered a mild brain freeze in his attempt to avoid the question. They had gone to one of their favorite ice cream shops that had all sorts of amazing flavors. Peter predictably got the one that was blended with all sorts of breakfast cereals. Tony decided to go for a simple dark chocolate.

“Um—who said I was?” Peter deflected.

“Kiddo,” Tony groaned. “You don’t need to worry about my love life. I’m _fine_. I got the company, I got my projects, I got _you_. I don’t need any romance. I mean, it would be nice, but it’s not a top priority for me right now.”

“But I’ve seen the way you look at Mr. Rogers.”

Tony sighed. “Yeah. I’m probably obvious about it. But it’s not a good idea. I’ll admit it, I got a crush on him, but I don’t know if it’s from being star-struck because of what he did for you, or if it’s because I like him beyond his capacity as a teacher.”

“What about when I’m not his student anymore?” Peter asked. “Would you revisit it then?”

“Maybe. Love is complicated.”

Peter nodded and Tony had a feeling he understood on some level.

“Alright. I’ll hold off bringing it up again until the end of sixth grade.”

Tony nodded, satisfied. Then he remembered that Peter would be graduating from sixth grade in a few months. He knew that was at least one hundred days away, but he also knew that time would fly by in the blink of an eye.

Relativity sucked.


End file.
